Rise to Divinity
by miceonwheels
Summary: Two young boys meet and their pasts gradually unfold into the future as they conquer challenges of their friendship and the ever-changing outside world. Together, they fall into a dark world of power and corruption and learn the cost to Rise to Divinity.
1. The Meetings

**Rise to Divinity **

_**(Part One of a Two Part Series)**_

**Chapter One – The Meetings**

Dusk drew in the heavens above a small mountain path in the outskirts of Johto. A small lad, no more than seven, strode along warily as the fears of being alone at night came to him once more. "I'm gonna have to stop and make a fire or somethin'," he said to himself, high voice echoing in the silence. Disliking the returning noise, the child began to whistle a merry tune to the beat of the soft, padding noise his feet made on the dirt.

Suddenly, blue-green eyes spotted a dark figure on the ground a head of him. Hurrying forward with the excitement of finally having something to take his mind off the darkness, he realized it was another boy. "Hey! Kid! Hey! Are you ok? My name's Helios! What's yours?"

There was no reaction from the lump on the ground, but as he got closer, the lad realized it was not only a boy, but also a boy just about his age and badly bruised. "Oh, man! You're not ok!" he concluded out loud. "I better make a camp now and get you fixed up!"

Knowing he could not carry double his own weight plus a pack, the black haired Helios tried to drag this possible friend to a clearing. Upon recognizing that this would only do the lad more harm, he decided it would be best to make a fire on the path.

Being far more advanced than most his age and learning everything he thought he might need to survive before he ran from his parents, Helios gathered as much dry wood as his arms could hold in three trips into the shadowy forest. He had pick-pocketed a few lighters and matches one his way out of Blackthorn so he wouldn't have to rely on the traditional flint and rock.

A fire sparked in no time and he was sure to shove the child in close so he could warm up. He seemed cold to touch, and upon the light of the fire, he was even cold to look at. Blonde hair straggled loosely about his damaged face and his basic outfit of plain, cotton, grey pants and a matching long-sleeved shirt was tattered about his petit body.

A groan emerged from his mouth. "Ungh.. Where... am I?" the new boy questioned as freakishly blue eyes blinked open.

"Hey! You're awake!" the other lad cried happily. "I got some soup here, if you want some. You look hungry!"

Staring blankly at his new surroundings, the blonde's pale face screwed into fright and he attempted to back away. His palm slipping on an offset rock and he fell hard on an already damaged elbow. Shrieking in pain, the black haired youngster scurried after the possible friend with a warm and inviting expression. "Don't run away! My name's Helios. What's yours?"

Stopping in his tracks, the blonde appeared as if he were trying to remember the use of his lips. "Uh... Finch," he said, though he wanted to say 'Fins'. A swollen tongue stopped him from forming words correctly. '_I must've bit it when I fell_,' he thought as the feeling of pain returned. Gashes and bruises decorated his fair, young skin and each of them reminded him of their existence at once.

"Finch? That's a cool name," Helios said, not noticing the impediment. "Want some soup?" With a long stick, the lad nudged a can into the fire and watched as the flames ignited the chemical-filled label in different colours.

Nodding cautiously, Finch scootched closer. '_Who was this kid? Where did he come from? Where did I come from? Gee, I'm hungry..._' Deciding to think on the young stranger's charity no more, Finch accepted the soup when it was ready (just before the tin exploded) and ate it gratefully.

The two slurped in silence, the tension Finch brought nearly overwhelming. Finally, Helios spoke. "S'where'd you come from? Like, how'd you get to the base of the mountain n' stuff?"

The blonde looked up from his meal in a cup. "I fell, I think," he answered simpley.

"Oh," the black haired boy said, puzzled at his lack of explanation. "Was it bad?"

"What do you mean?"

"I mean, was it bad? Why don't you wanna tell me what happened? Was it bad?"

"I don't remember."

"Oh."

Hushed again by a logical response, Helios took to his soup. The mushy letters swirled around in a tomato-y substance and he smiled. "Y'know, there's a song my mom used to sing me."

There was no reply.

"It's all about a plucking the feathers off a lark. I'll teach it to you!"

Silence.

Helios began to sing. "Alouette, gentille Alouette. Alouette je te plumerai.

Je te plumerai la tête? Je te plumerai la tête! Et la tête, et la tête. Alouette, Alouette. O-o-o-o-oh! Alouette, gentille Alouette. Alouette je te plumerai!"

A shrill voice lighting up the night, Finch never joined in, but seemed to nod his head with permittance. They finished their small meal and Helios allowed his new friend to share a sleeping bag with him, though the other seemed reluctant. And they slept peacefully that night, one dreaming of fame and power, the other thinking of a mystical bird that he felt that he owed his thanks some how.

The boys awoke early the next morning, but neither had any measurement of time so it was hard to tell. The fire had long since turned into black coals in the dirt and they each slid out of the bag feeling refreshed. After instruction from Helios, the pair went in search for more firewood to supply a decent breakfast and warmth to their morning chills. For the first time, something peculiar was noticed about this new friend.

"Hey! You have a tail!" the raven tressed boy said with alarm, dropping the small bundle he had accumulated.

Finch nodded, ignoring the shock.

"That's not natural," Helios called, confused to no end at this extra appendage. "How did you get it?"

The blonde shrugged. "I was born with it, I think. I have ears, too."

Helios didn't understand. "Well, I have ears… but I don't have a tail."

"No," Finch corrected, "I have… weird ears."

Helios moved in closer to inspect, traipsing across the forest floor. First, sea hued eyes stared intently at the tail. It was about as long as his arm and was a cyan blue colour. It had a transparent fin on the end. "Kinda looks like a mermaid," the black haired boy declared, smiling.

Finch became wary of the sudden interest in his features. The only times people wanted to do this was either before or after painful needles. But Helios seemed different than the people he had known before. For one, they all wore starch white coats and had a look of anger about them always. Helios was dressed in a beige, woolen sweater and blue jeans. He seemed so friendly and kind. His voice, too, was softer and it never barked at him like others he had heard. Even Helios's smell was more pleasant, dirty but with the lingering scent of some foreign substance that felt like it should be associated with home.

"The people said I was a Vaporeonmorph," Finch said at length, feeling slightly less nervous.

"What's that?"

"I dunno."

"Oh."

The search was raised as Helios moved the concealing blonde hair away from finned ears. They fanned out and twitched at the touch. Helios giggled. "These are cool. I wish I had 'em. Can you hear better?"

Finch shrugged. "How am I supposed to know?"

Nodding, Helios stood in front of his friend and opened his mouth to speak, stopping short. "Your eyes!" he exclaimed, starring in awe.

Finch shut them, not liking the reaction.

"No! I want to see them! They're so blue! Please open them again!"

He obeyed.

"Wow!" the black haired lad gasped, taken back. "I've never seen anything so blue! I feel like I'm staring straight into… a sink of water or something, only bigger!"

Finch closed his eyes again, nerves taking over. "Please stop."

Obliging without further questions, Helios wondered back to his dropped sticks and collected them once more.

The fire was soon built up once more and a quick meal of charred bread and peanut butter was taken along with another conversation.

"How can you not know where those thingies came from, Finch? Seems to me if I got new ears and a tail, I'd remember."

Finch shrugged. "I think I was born with them." His tongue was feeling better that morning, but he liked the new name that he had been given. He found it less degrading than 'Fins'. His other ailments still stung, but he was used to pain, having experienced it all of his life. Just then, it donned on him that he hadn't asked this strange companion any questions of his past.

"Where did you come from?" Finch inquired, taking the final bite of his breakfast.

"Well, I was born in Goldenrod, but my mom and I took a vacation in Blackthorn a few days ago. I always saw these kids with Pokémon and I want one, too. I'm looking for one now, but I think I have to get some kind of ball first." Helios shrugged as he continued nibbling around the edges of his burnt toast. It had been gnawed into a bite-mark circle and a large amount of peanut butter had accumulated on his chubby cheeks in the process. "Let me know when you remember more of what your forgot."

Finch nodded and stood. "Where are we going, anyway?"

Helios had to think on this a moment. "I gotta map." He dug around in his near-by pack and found a crinkled up sheet of paper. "Hmm.. Lesse.. We're here," he said, pointing to a mountainous region on the map. "We can't go back to Blackthorn because my mom might be looking for me. The closest place is over here." Sliding his tiny digit east, it brushed into Kanto. "That's a big ol' Pokéball if I ever saw one. I betcha they sell 'em there. That's where we're going!"

"How far is it?" Finch asked believing that his friend's knowledge was far beyond his own in this subject. What he said seemed to make perfect sense. The blonde looked on over the other's shoulder.

"Hmm… I was walking for three days on my own, and I'd say we're about here now… and that's about this much," (he lifted his hand and showed a space of about a centimeter between his index and thumb), "so, it should take us about seven days to get to the Giant Pokéball. I think I have enough food for that. I wasn't packing for two…"

As Helios murmured his personal calculations, Finch merely stepped back in awe. This young boy, though his own age, seemed so very smart! He kept his intellectual jealousies secret for the moment and hopped all of this planning would work out for them.

About fifteen minutes later, the duo packed up and set off for Victory Road, eagerly awaiting whatever they might find along the way.

They had been walking on for four straight hours and fatigue was passing over Helios. The blonde went on with what seemed like endless strength as his long, graceful strides efficiently covered the ground. Helios straggled behind until he finally called for a rest. "Sorry, Finch. I think it's time for lunch anyway."

Finch's metabolism worked in strange ways and he didn't feel hungry. His previous treatment ensured that his body would go on for long time spans without a decent meal. He didn't mind the break, though. Distance was unkind to swollen and blistered feet.

The usual procedure was taken for the fire and hot dogs were skewered on sticks. The boys shoved their food into the flames and smiled. The path they were taking still hugged the foot of a tall mountain to the right. The left side showed only thick forest where the occasional Pidgey looked on. A head of them, the east, was a barrage of hill and dale as far as their under-developed eyes could see. Every time Helios pointed out a marking in the distance, Finch always noted that he could see something more distant than that, but said nothing.

Another day passed in generally the same manner. Helios would often bring out the map and point to his friend where he thought they were. "Yep. We're nearly around this mountain. At this rate, I'd say, we'll be there in under a week." This, of course, was quite wrong and the same rocky cliffs did not leave their right eye.

Suddenly, Finch's finned ears began to twitch. A cloud of voices came to him, all too familiar sounding. The sense of fear washed over him. "Helios!" he whispered quickly. "I think we should hide. There's someone coming up behind us!"

The black haired boy scoffed at this. "If they're coming, then why should we hide? If they're friendly, then they can journey with us. If they're not, then we can fight 'em. We're small, but we're strong, I know." He didn't bother to ask how his friend could hear something so well that he could hear no trace of.

Finch hurriedly clapped a hand over the other's thin lips. "I think they're the people who… who… I think they're bad people. Please, let's hide."

Nodding reluctantly at the blonde's strange urgings, ocean coloured orbs searched about the nearby grounds for an easy concealment. Spotting a large grey-brown rock hidden among a hefty pack of bushy pines, Helios grabbed his friend and they ducked noiselessly behind it. Two pairs of eyes poked out to get a look at what they ran from.

Three figured appeared around the bend minutes later. One was tall and lanky with a balding top, a bulging middle, and a bending bottom. The second, a woman, peered around her through thick lenses and two pens stuck through a messy, brown bun as if she'd forgotten to take them out. The third had olive skin and hair and appeared to be freezing. He clutched his arms and walked rigidly, not bothering to remove his eyes from the road.

"Well, we're not trackers or anything," the first one said, his head a good foot above the other two. "How're we supposed to find the kid?"

"We're not day care attendants, either," the woman replied, sounding like she had answered this question many times before. Her mousey face flickered back and forth from either side and never at her companions. "That didn't stop Dr. Kale from pinning us to watch the brat every waking minute of his life."

The third one groaned. "Shreena, this is just punishment for yours and Kerbur's negligence. You let him escape!"

Kerbur, the first man, was appalled. "He's a weasely kid! It's not my fault he found the loophole in our security. Am I supposed to alter his intelligence?"

"And that still doesn't explain why _you're_ here, Nore," Shreena said, pointing an accusing finger at the third man. "You left the draft vent open because you can't kick a foolish habit and are too much of a baby to admit it!"

"I quit smoking long ago, Shreena, and you know it. It's Dr. Kale's policy, anyway. If I were caught, I'd be fired."

She sighed, rolling dull brown eyes (that only Finch had the sight to notice), "Which is why I haven't told anyone. Just keep looking for Fins. He's hurt and doesn't know how to survive in the wild."

"That's if he's survived this long. I still say he perished in the mountains. The blizzard that passed by last week was enough to kill anyone," Kerbur mentioned.

"The _real_ trackers found no trace of him," Nore said. "He's probably shivering in some desolate cave."

"Look! We've seen fire-pit remains all along this path. He may have taught himself how to build one. He may have spied on someone else along this road and played monkey-see-monkey-do. His intellect increases at a more rapid pace than Sparks, and he escaped long before Fins ever did," the woman barked.

The others nodded at Shreena's good points, but didn't seem convinced.

"Sparks was a failure from the get-go. He couldn't control himself in any means. I'm just glad we didn't have to play babysitter to him. Five good scientists were put on leave due to electrocution!" Nore remembered, shuddering as a swift, fall wind flew through.

Kerbur appeared indifferent at this. "It was a pity to have him killed, though. He would have made a fine specimen if only he could control his strength and mind. Today, I still don't understand what went wrong."

Shreena began to speak, but the traveling trio of lab assistants had moved out of earshot for Helios and Finch stopped listening all together. He had heard enough. Not much of it registered, and a lot of what did, he would later force out of his memory.

Long moments did the boys wait after the scientists were out of sight before they dared to breath. "Whoo, they were scary," Helios admitted in a hushed voice. "What would they have done if they found us? They knew you. I think they were looking for you." The sentences grew gradually louder as he pieced together bits of information to concluding questions.

Finch turned to his friend and stared blankly a moment. "They're not that scary," he said at length. "Dr. Kale, the man they were talking about, is scarier. I think, if they found us, they would have taken me back to the lab. I'm not sure what they would've done with you." He figured the last two comments Helios made were self-explainable.

They finally emerged from their hiding place and returned to the path. "Is it safe to walk here?" Finch asked, assuming Helios would have an answer for this.

"Yes," he said after some thought, "I think it is. You heard those three long before they came around the corner. I'm sure you'd be able to hear more people if they came. Let's stick to the path. That way we won't get lost."

The blonde nodded. The guess he made of his friend was correct and they promptly carried onto their path.


	2. The Sidetrack

**Chapter Two – The Sidetrack**

It had been three hours since the encounter with the lab workers passed and the walk had remained generally uneventful. Helios was dancing a little while a head of his companion, singing simple songs in French. "Frère Jacques, frère Jacques. Dormez vous? Dormez vous?"

"What are you singing?" Finch finally asked. "I can't understand it."

"That's because you don't know French. My mom was teaching me French," the other boy answered simply. Finch didn't seem satisfied with this and stared blankly. "I can sing other songs in English, if you want. Maybe you'll know the words!"

The blonde remained silent, thinking. "I don't know many songs. I think the people made me listen to some sort of songs… music, they called it… to see my reaction. I remember they wrote a lot of things down, at least. I didn't like much of it, though. It was either too loud or too quiet."

Helios smiled at this. "Then I can teach you!" he exclaimed happily, throwing his arms into the air.

"But I've never sang before," Finch responded quietly as he withdrew into himself. He felt awkward again.

"Don't worry about tha—" Helios began, but got cut off.

"No, wait," the Vaporeonmorph said distantly. "I _do _know a song. There was a woman who came in the mornings to tidy my room. She would sing as she cleaned. Her voice was very pretty. It sounded much better than the 'music' the people made me listen to. It sounded like… perfect."

Helios was completely enthralled with the recount of this singing story he begged to know more. "What did she look like?" he asked, eyes lit up like tiny firecrackers.

"I don't know. I never saw her. I had been scolded whenever I woke up earlier than I was supposed to, so I always just listened to her with my eyes shut." Instinctively, Finch closed his eyes and tried to imagine the scenario. He could hear the strange lilt of her voice bouncing off the walls and meager furniture. Her name was Bridget he'd heard some of the lab workers say.

"Dumb as a post, but she'll do anything you tell her," one of them had said. "She's my cousin's daughter. She's staying with us for a little while. Lives somewhere out by Hickville, if you know what I mean."

"Are you sure she won't leak anything?" another asked.

"Nah. She thinks this is some kind of day-care. She's sixteen and I'd be surprised if she could write her own name. Which means she can't read the contract that says we can pay her chicken-feed for a nine-hour shift!"

The two men laughed, but Finch remembered thinking she seemed much smarter. He had heard Bridget speak before, and it sounded nice and friendly, like Helios, but with quite different tones and pronunciation.

"Yea', sir. I'll get th'boy's room cleaned up right away. 'E'll be sleepin' like th'angel 'e is and won't even know I'm there," she had whispered once upon entrance – her first day. For the next few months, she'd come in each morning and Finch made a note of waking up early just to hear her. In this time he perfected the art of feigning slumber while remaining completely alert. She sang many different songs, but there was one he liked the most.

"That's called '_A Song for th'Mira_', li'l sleepin' angel. They say you're real smart, so you might be able t'hear me." And then she'd continue to sing.

Opening his eyes again, after what seemed like an eternity of memory searching, Finch's expression became hollow. "One day she left. The people said it was because she wasn't doing her job right. I made sure I remembered that song, though, so I played it over and over in my head every night. I haven't thought about it again until now."

"How did it go?" Helios inquired, on the edge of his seat.

Finch was taken back by this question. "I… I never _sang_ it. I… I… I wouldn't know how…" He was blushing.

"C'mon, you gotta. I'm all excited! Please?" Helios tried his puppy-face on his new friend, who turned away.

"Ok, ok. Here goes….

Out on the Mira one warm afternoon

Old men go fishing with black line and spoon

And if they catch nothing they never complain

I wish I was with them again."

Helios was in awe. "That's amazing! Go on! You have to!"

Finch nodded and continued to sing, missing a note here and there, but doing Bridget proud as she listened on from a far away distance in the clouds.

Soon, Helios had taught his friend some new songs and the pair of seven year-olds was belting them at the top of their little lungs. But Finch stopped short suddenly, halfway through '_Row-Row-Row Your Boat_'. Finned ears twitching, he hushed his companion quickly, explaining that once again he heart approaching footsteps.

"I only hear one set of feet, but there's another strange noise with him. It's shrill, but musical. There's flapping, also. I sense that it's not like us… or _you_ at least," he said as the two took cover.

Moments later, a round, but jolly-seeming man appeared over the hill they had just descended. Whistling a cheery tune, he was followed by a rather large butterfly calling the harmony.

Helios became excited. "He looks friendly and I think that's a Pokémon. Maybe he'll help us find a faster way to the giant Pokéball!" he whispered happily.

Finch looked skeptical but agreed.

As Helios jumped out from behind the shrubbery he was concealed in, the large hiker drew back, startled.

"Well, hello there!" he pleasantly greeted, looking down on the youngsters. "Who might you be?"

"I'm Helios and that's," (he thrust a thumb at the blond who was slowly skulking behind him), "Finch."

"And I'm Leon. It's a pleasure to meet you two lads!"

Leon and Helios shook hands, but the Butterfree was trying to draw attention to Finch.

"Free! Free!" she called, hovering over the small boy in question.

The man looked confused until he caught a glimpse of the blonde.

"You've got…. Fins! Why, I'd say you were either the best at arts and crafts in your class or …you were part Vaporeon."

Finch, meanwhile, was drawing into himself in embarrassment. The woodsman's smiled warmly, eyes squinting with age and cheerfulness. "No worries, little one. But you're quite lucky you stumbled across me and not," (he drew in close to them), "someone unkind."

"Well whaddya mean?" Helios questioned, clearly confused. "Why wouldn't people like a couple'a kids like us?" He made a pert face of defiance and crossed his arms.

Leon's face became grave and he rubbed at the dark beard on his chin as he wondered how to say this to a seven year old. "There are bandits and malicious people who like to take advantage of those who are weaker than them. There are dangerous Pokémon wondering about. Not to mention Team Rocket has been springing up in a lot of unlikely places lately and I have no doubts that a Vaporeonmorph wondering around without any sort of guardian would be most intriguing to one of those grunts."

At the mention of Team Rocket, both boys unconsciously shuddered and glanced around them with unease. Helios was the first to push these fears away and pipe up.

"I'm his guardian," he quickly said as he thrust a thumb in Finch's direction again, "and he's mine. We're looking out for each other now." Confidently the child nodded.

"But what are you both doing in the middle of nowhere without your parents? You're too young to have started your Pokémon journey," the hiker said, placing a worried hand on his forehead.

"We haven't got any parents," Helios answered with his characteristic spunk. "We're trying to find our way here." He pulled the rolled up map out of his bag and pointed to his sought after destination.

Leon was taken by surprise as he focused on the vibrant map of Johto and Kanto, examining the area Helios was pointing at. "That's the start of Victory Road. Luckily for you, that's exactly where I'm headed." A smile tugged at his portly face. "I'll take you there myself. I wouldn't feel right otherwise."

Helios's face burst with a grin. _Victory Road_. With a name like that, it had to be fantastic. The promise of glory and fame sparked brand new feelings within him and drove his heart to a faster pace. "What are we waiting for? Let's go! Let's get there tonight!"

The hiker chuckled and shook his head as they began to walk along the path again. "I think you two owe me a few things." Helios's face fell as Leon went on, "Firstly, what on earth are you both doing out hear on your own?"

The black haired boy looked around nervously and sighed. "I just wanted to start my Pokémon journey early, really. It's not fair that I have to wait till I'm ten. I'm smarter than any ten year old that I've come across. One day, I'm gonna be a famous Master and people will either run to me or run away from me," he said, small voice strong. "My mom doesn't get it… she doesn't get much." He did his best to mask the hurt from his face, but his overwhelming eight-year-old honesty revealed that it was a touchy subject.

"And your father?" Leon asked in a kind and serious tone.

"Gone," the talkative boy said simply. It was clear that he wouldn't be made to say much else. Leon accepted this and moved onto the silent Vaporeonmorph.

"I believe it's your turn," he said.

Finch was sucking on his swollen lip, hoping that he would not be called on. But when he saw Helios and Leon's faces intent with curiosity, he forced himself to begin.

"From what I can recall, I've been living in some sort of lab my entire life. There were always people with trench coats and clipboards and vials and needles. In fact, you and Helios are the first people I've seen who don't fit that description, outside of picture books, of course." He became uncharacteristically fluent and went on with detail. "My room was very white and plain, nothing like this forest. It had a small bed, a small table and chair, a few books, and a great big mirror. I have a feeling that the scientists watched me through it. The scientists would test me in many ways, forcing me to tell them every event that happened in the book I had read, or remember a series of one hundred pictures. They also tested my body, forcing me to run for long periods of time on the treadmill or punch a seed bag for hours.

"The tests they most preferred involved water. Often, they would throw me into a pool and then not let me come up for air. I didn't mind being in the water very much, though. It healed a lot of my cuts and bruises and I felt very calm. One time I wished so hard that I would never have to leave the water. I think the water wished for me to stay in there, too, because they began looking for me like I had disappeared. I had to start breathing air again, though, and once they noticed me they let me up. They seemed very happy."

Finch had shut his eyes and entered a trance like state. As he recalled the long list of mystifying events, the other two looked on with open mouths. The story he recalled was disturbing to say the least, but they had not heard the end of it.

"There was one room that I was tested in that had a window. I loved this window almost as much as the water. I figured out how to answer their questions while paying attention to the world outside. The questions were easy enough anyway. Outside I could see that we were on a mountain. I could see countless trees near by and much further away, I could see a city with houses and people. One day the window was open and I could smell the fresh, mountain air. That's when I knew I had to leave.

"It wasn't very difficult to find a way out. Some of the scientists were quite lazy and one had a strange habit of puffing on white things. He would blow smoke into a vent and when he forgot to close the vent, I crawled through it.

"When I was finally outside, I realized that the lab was very big and also very high up on the mountain. They noticed my escape right away, so I ran as fast as I could and didn't bother making a plan. I just ran and ran down. After one night, snow began to fall and the wind grew much colder. The next thing I knew, I was knee deep in snow and I couldn't see, feel, or hear a thing. I guess I must've blacked out and fallen down the mountain. I don't remember much after that until Helios found me."

A long, thoughtful silence followed Finch's tale. Rattatas and Sentrets weaved in and out of their path innocently, appreciating the quietness of these travelers. This was a treacherous mountain way and most of people who dared make the trek attempted to fend off the pressing silence with noise of their own. It was the Butterfree who made the first sound and it snapped Leon out of his daze.

"Finch, I've been thinking hard on a few key things you mentioned in your recount," he said, brow furrowed. "When you said that the water hid you, perhaps it was your own doing." When he noticed the boys' confusion, he went on. "Well, you're clearly part Vaporeon. I think it's quite possible that you were using one of the Pokémon's renowned aquatic tactics. It's known that Vaporeons can literally dissolve into water if they so did chose." Excited, he explained further. "You also mentioned that in the water, your wounds healed. That is Vaporeon's ability known as Water Absorb."

The pair of children remained without a word of response, still a bit confused as to what the hiker was getting at.

"What I mean is you, Finch, not only have the physical traits of a Vaporeon, but you also have the abilities. Under the right training, you could maybe one day perform Hydro Pump! A boy performing Hydro Pump! It's remarkable!"

Finch wasn't sure how he should react to this odd information and he looked to see Helios's response. Helios quickly smiled enthusiastically and cheered. "Geeze, my best friend could one day do Hydro Pump? You are the **coolest**!" The black haired boy wasn't sure what a Hydro Pump was, but it certainly sounded fantastic.

Pleased with this positive attention, Finch's stoic expression broke to reveal a shy smile curving his lips. Never had he been treated as anything other than an experiment. Even the Butterfree was congratulating him in her own way.

"There are more like you out there and a friend of mine is an expert. She may be able to give you some insight into your past and how you became the way you are. Would you be willing to meet her?" Leon asked.

Caught up in the swell of excitement, Finch nodded sheepishly as Helios patted him heartily on the back.

"That's my boy! Now we should want to get to the mouth of Victory Road as soon as possible and if we kept along this path we wouldn't make it for at least two weeks."

"Free! Free!" chimed in the Butterfree.

"Ah, yes. Good idea. Belle my Butterfree suggests we arrive in style and I know just how to do it." Leon's face was glowing with cheer as he began to dig into his large backpack.

Helios stared with wonder up at the flying Bug-type. "Could you really understand her just then?" he asked, voice hushed and full of anticipation.

The round man laughed and nodded as he continued to rummage around in his bag. "Of course. When a trainer and their Pokémon become friends, they begin to form a bond that is incomparable to anything else. The trainer must require a lot of heart to gain the level of trust required and often the trainer and Pokémon must know each other for a very long time. If conditions are right, a Pokémon and their trainer can do just about anything. Ah, here it is." He had finally found what he was looking for: a small, two-toned sphere. He tossed the ball to the ground and in a flash of red light, a great bat appeared. It was almost as tall as the man with a thick back and a wide, purple wingspan. With another Pokéball, he returned Belle.

"Hop on," he said, patting the cave dweller. "This is my Crobat Charlie. Charlie, meet Finch and Helios. We're taking them to Victory Road."

It wasn't long until the boys had clamored onto the Zubat evolute and were sailing high in the sky, Finch trying to push the memories of his past away from him and Helios imagining his future friendship with some powerful Pokémon.


End file.
